


Sehun Hears a Rat

by ACatWhoWrites



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, First Meetings, Gen, Neighbors, Rats, Rats & Mice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-18
Updated: 2014-02-18
Packaged: 2018-01-20 13:41:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1512617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ACatWhoWrites/pseuds/ACatWhoWrites
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An unwanted visitor has Sehun calling for a knight.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sehun Hears a Rat

Sehun never imagined his knight in shining armor would be a lanky guy with big ears and an extra-wide smile dressed in sweats and a ratty band T-shirt from high school. He never even considered _having_ or _needing_ a knight, in shining armor or otherwise.

But as he rolled onto his back and sat up, rubbing his eyes with a yawn, his brain struggled to fight through the haze of sleep, nagged by his conscious that something wasn’t right, and he wished he didn’t live alone. As a kid living at home, whenever something felt or sounded wrong, he could go to his mom or dad, and they’d check it out. They covered everything from monsters under the bed to shuffling in the attic.

_Skrt. Skrt. Skrt._

He stilled, ears straining to hear the sound. He trained his eyes on his lap, trying to locate the disturbance just by sound.

_Skrt. Skrt._

Like something with tiny claws walking on the linoleum, but Sehun didn’t have any pets. It was hard to hear over the sudden pounding of his heart against his ear drums.

He flipped all of the switches in the apartment, illuminating every inch of open space and chasing away any concealing shadows.

But there was nothing.

_Skrt. Skrt. Skrt._

Sehun leapt onto the sofa, dragging a blanket around his shoulders and tucking his feet into the cushions. He knew something was there, but it was invisible.

The skittering stopped. All he heard was his own shaky breathing and quickened heartbeat.

Beneath him, under the sofa, a snuffly, grunt-like moan, almost like a pig’s grunt, but lower, shot Sehun’s anxiety through the roof. Tipping backwards, he kicked his legs over the back of the sofa to run to his room, but he fell and caught himself sharply on his elbow. In the incandescent yellow lights, the shadows beneath the furniture were reddish. Beneath the sofa, however, a much darker shadow huddled beneath a corner of the sofa.

A shadow with eyes.

Kicking at the ground to scoot away and scramble to his feet, Sehun screamed and did not stop screaming until his bedroom door slammed and he dove into bed, sobs threatening to break from his lungs.

 

Next door, Chanyeol was crashing on his friend’s couch, keeping an eye on the few plants and pair of dogs while they visited home over the weekend.

It wasn’t very late, but two hyperactive dogs drained Chanyeol’s own seemingly boundless energy. After feeding the duo, walking them around a nearby park, and shooing them to their respective beds, he popped a DVD into the player and threw his feet up onto the arm of the couch and let himself drift off to the screams and explosions of an American action-packed thriller.

Some hours later, Chanyeol awoke to a kink in his back and the DVD menu replaying softly. A high whine and its soft echo pulled Chanyeol upright with a grunt.

“What’s up, guys?”

The dogs looked over their shoulders at him, heads tilted curiously. They whined again, higher and more insistent. The darker of the two scratched at the door, earning a warning hiss from Chanyeol.

“Do you need to out again? Say something, don’t just—” A loud thud from the other side of the wall cut Chanyeol’s spiel short. He and the dogs stared at the wall and jumped in unison when something hit it or fell against it with enough force to rattle the frames on the wall.

A scream followed, travelling from the wall to somewhere further into the apartment. If its layout was anything like Chanyeol’s friend’s, the person next door had run into the bedroom.

Chanyeol lurched to his feet, heart in his throat, and shoved the dogs aside with his foot, not even telling them to quiet down or grabbing his shoes. The next door apartment was unlocked, he discovered, turning the knob while driving the heel of his palm against the smooth surface.

“Hello?!” He peered into the apartment. All of the lights were on, even the small lamps on the bathroom lights, but the door stood open with no one inside. “Are you alright?”

A snuffly grunt dragged him into the seemingly empty apartment by his curiosity. He followed it to the sofa in the center of the living area and pushed it with his hip experimentally. The grunting rose to a panicked shriek, and something large and black darted from the safety of the sofa to the faded drapes.

Chanyeol blanched and barely kept his own scream from clawing up his throat when a giant rat hissed at him from its perch clinging to the fabric with a beady glare.

“ _Oh God_. OhGodOhGodOHGOD.” Facing the angered rodent, he jogged backwards into the kitchen and threw open cabinets and closets. Armed with a broom and the bathroom wastebasket, Chanyeol returned to the battlefield. “Please don’t jump on me... I _will_ pee myself.” He swiped the broom down the drapes, squealing in panic when the rat leapt to the floor and made a break for the open apartment door.

With a silent prayer and silent screams, Chanyeol loped after it, flipped the wastebasket over, and slammed it down over the rat. The little beast was strong, throwing itself against the plastic so hard it shivered in Chanyeol’s hands. He turned fast and sat on it, breathing hard.

“Did you get it?”

Chanyeol jumped at the question. The bedroom door cracked open, and a blanket-wrapped boy peered at him.

“I am on top of the situation,” Chanyeol quipped. They both stiffened at the shrill screech of rage coming from Chanyeol’s seat. He shuddered and pleaded, “Please find me something heavy. I don’t want to sit here anymore.”

The boy disappeared and reappeared within seconds, arms piled with thick textbooks. “Count of three,” he breathed nervously. He held the books low, beside Chanyeol’s hip, and at _three!_ , Chanyeol dropped to his hands and knees, and the boy dropped the books where he had sat.

They retreated a few feet, Chanyeol crab-walking until his back hit the sofa, holding their breaths and anticipating the rat’s explosive rage.

It grunted and screeched, but the books held it fast in its plastic prison.

Chanyeol broke their silence first. “You should call the landlord about an exterminator...”

The boy nodded and retreated to his room, speaking low but insistently for a few minutes before returning. “The exterminator won’t come until morning.”

Chanyeol crawled onto the sofa, hand clutching the front of his shirt while he willed his heart to calm down and return to its proper place in his chest. “That was so scary, man. Not even gonna lie.”

“Try waking up to it. Christ...” The boy fell back against the door frame of his bedroom. “I’m not gonna sleep at all, now.”

“You can come stay with me until tomorrow, if you want. I’m right next door.” Chanyeol hitched a thumb over his shoulder. “Pet-sitting.”

The boy nodded. “Jongin said he’d be gone this weekend. He didn’t mention who'd be watching the dogs, though.”

In the excitement, Chanyeol had not introduced himself. Oops.

A stranger draped over the sofa with his socked feet on the coffee table.

He struggled gracelessly to his feet and bowed. “I’m sorry! My name’s Park Chanyeol. Jongin’s friend.”

“Oh Sehun. Also Jongin’s friend and neighbour. Thanks for helping me.”

His knight grinned.

The rat scoffed.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a [prompt](http://exopromptmeme.livejournal.com/11756.html?thread=6202348#t6202348) on the [exopromptmeme](http://exopromptmeme.livejournal.com/). I wrote it while making dinner.
> 
> Rat facts: Rats are known to eat their young. They are sold as food in many Asian countries, but they only offer wild-caught rats because of the many diseases rats have been known to carry. Rats eat a lot. They can bite through a human toenail and eat through pretty much anything. Like cats, they can fit into remarkably small spaces; rats can squeeze through quarter-sized openings. Typical city rats are rather skittish around people, but there are larger and curiouser rat species, such as a giant opossum-sized rat in Papua New Guinea. Some Indians worship rats. Of all creatures. Rats. Inbreeding is common among rats. They don't discriminate. They are the largest single group of mammals in the animal kingdom. An example of this wild breeding is Rat Island, Alaska. Due to a shipwreck, all the rats went to the island and destroyed bird populations while their own numbers grew. If you live in the city, keep your pipes clean, otherwise the rats in the sewers will follow the waste products into your home. They crawl up through toilets and sinks. I think that is much worse than finding a little gator in your toilet.


End file.
